Wildflower (forb) · Violaceae
Common blue violet
Viola sororia
Common blue violet is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,495 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common blue violet at a glance
- Native in
- 1,495 counties, across 36 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 4 in PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common blue violet is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,495 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,495 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 28 counties
- Arkansas 50 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 42 counties
- Georgia 29 counties
- Illinois 102 counties
- Indiana 71 counties
- Iowa 18 counties
- Kansas 25 counties
- Kentucky 95 counties
- Louisiana 54 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 68 counties
- Minnesota 74 counties
- Mississippi 37 counties
- Missouri 110 counties
- Nebraska 20 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New York 61 counties
- North Carolina 79 counties
- Ohio 87 counties
- Oklahoma 17 counties
- Pennsylvania 65 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 21 counties
- South Dakota 3 counties
- Tennessee 67 counties
- Texas 63 counties
- Vermont 14 counties
- Virginia 11 counties
- West Virginia 53 counties
- Wisconsin 67 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 4 in
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 36 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 7.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 75
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Violaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- VISO
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Viola sororia (PLANTS symbol VISO).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources